Strauss victims upset by panel findings that medical board had evidence of abuse but didn't act

Saturday

Aug 31, 2019 at 6:00 AM

Men who have said they were sexually abused by former Ohio State University doctor Richard Strauss were angered Friday to learn that the State Medical Board failed to remove his license or inform police despite an investigator finding credible evidence of misconduct in 1996.

The finding by a state panel appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine shows "another whole agency knew," said Steve Snyder-Hill, who complained to the university about Strauss in the mid-90s.

"I feel betrayed by them just as much as I did by OSU," he said.

In releasing the panel's report, DeWine called on the medical board to examine every sexual assault case closed without any action for at least the past 25 years. There are about 1,500 cases that fall into that category.

"I shudder to think there could be other predator physicians still practicing in the state of Ohio or other places in our country," DeWine said at a news conference. "I sincerely hope that there are no other predators out there, physicians like Dr. Strauss, but we must be sure."

The panel was formed to dissect the 1996 investigation of Strauss, now accused of sexually abusing at least 177 former male students.

Lawyers representing some of the victims in actions against the university say that as many as 300 men may have been sexually assaulted.

A university investigation found that Strauss molested students from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s while serving in Ohio State's athletic department and at the student health center, and that employees knew about the misconduct but repeatedly failed to act to stop it.

Strauss died by suicide in California in 2005.

The medical board information had been redacted in the May release of the university investigation, performed by the law firm Perkins Coie, due to state law that forbids the release of State Medical Board investigative information unless misconduct charges are filed.

DeWine subsequently asked the 15-member panel to examine the medical board investigation, and the board.

Brian Garrett, who says he worked for and was sexually assaulted by Strauss at an off-campus clinic in late 1996, said the new report shows he was abused “well after OSU knew and well after the medical board knew.”

"My situation was always 100% preventable, now it was 1,000% preventable,” he said. "Every time we start to heal ... we find out more people knew and covered it up."

DeWine also called on the medical board to review Ohio physicians who knew Strauss was sexually assaulting students or suspected it but did not report it, "failing to stop reported sexual abuse of student after student after student." That was not done in the 1996 investigation, he said.

Further, the board has been asked to look into past cases in which an action was pursued against an offending physician but not other doctors who knew about but failed to report the behavior. It also has been asked to take steps to balance the public's right to know about investigations and the privacy of complainants and exonerated doctors.

"Part of what we hope comes out of this horrible tragedy is we're trying to change culture, and the culture should be 'If you see something, put your hand up. Report it,'" DeWine said. "This whole story is disgusting, this whole story is a failure of people to do what's right."

He said there has been a culture in certain places of not reporting to police.

"This is not the only example you're going to find on college campuses of something not being reported to police," he said.

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In a statement, the State Medical Board said its investigation protocol for sexual misconduct complaints has "substantially advanced since the tragic misconduct of Richard Strauss" and that its mission is to protect the health and safety of Ohioans.

"We have streamlined the complaint intake process and now triage alleged sexual boundary violations with the highest priority. Investigations are more survivor-focused, more psychologically minded, and take advantage of the research that has been done in this area," the statement says. "The board will continue to make operational improvements to better protect the victims of predator physicians."

A statement from Ohio State said the university has, since 2018, investigated Strauss’ crimes and the university’s failures, and that it assisted the state panel in its work.

"The university has implemented multiple additional safeguards in the 20 years since Strauss left the university," the statement says. "We will thoroughly review the task force report and determine its implications for meeting our long-stated goal of releasing the complete, unredacted report of the independent Perkins Coie investigation. Once again, we express compassion and concern with the survivors of Richard Strauss’ abuse."

DeWine said the panel's report shows that a medical board investigator found "credible evidence" of sexual assault in 1996 and an enforcement attorney had taken steps to proceed with a case in 1997, but that case fell into what one person who worked for the board at the time called a "black hole."

The case "basically fell into oblivion," DeWine said.

Tom Stickrath, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety and chairman of the panel, said there was no evidence that anyone attempted to push the case into a "black hole" and that witnesses interviewed could not explain why no action was taken. It was closed without a documented reason in 2002.

"It's almost inexplicable ... witnesses we talked to couldn't explain it," Stickrath said. "Some investigators said that that sometimes happens."

The investigator, DeWine said, had opened a complaint on Strauss after discovering that Strauss' authority to see patients was suspended by the university while investigating another 1996 complaint — made by Strauss himself, the report says.

The investigation ultimately found that Strauss had been "performing inappropriate genital exams on male students for years," the governor said.

The panel also is asking for changes in how the medical board handles investigations. Those changes include incorporating a trauma-informed and survivor-focused approach to investigations, including victim advocates in the investigative process, reviewing closed cases to make sure the closure was appropriate, enhancing communication and strengthening relationships with law enforcement.

The state nursing board, dental board, psychology board, pharmacy board and other licensing boards are being asked to report to the panel about their investigative processes and work with law enforcement to make sure they are taking action when needed.

jviviano@dispatch.com

@JoAnneViviano

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

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